Second Trunk Road roundabout opens

MAT-SU — The Valley’s second traffic circle opened Monday, but construction continues on the new Trunk Road.

“Right now the roundabout opened as of this morning in a two-way configuration on Bogard or East Colony Schools Way,” Department of Transportation project engineer John Waisanen said Monday afternoon.

He said crews Monday also were out working on installing a guardrail at the intersection of Bogard Road and Old Trunk Road. Part of the project on that end has included installing a new crossing over Wasilla Creek.

Waisanen said that by the end of the summer, the schedule calls for the roundabout to remain open in just those two directions, but crews will continue work on the new Trunk north of Bogard.

“We’re still paving out there. We’re going to continue paving on the north end,” he said.

Whether any of that will be available for people to drive on when the snow flies isn’t clear. What definitely won’t be available is the section of road between the Palmer-Wasilla Highway and Bogard Road. That bit is going to be left to settle for the winter before it’s paved next summer.

This is Phase II of the Trunk Road extension project. Phase I improved the section of the road from the Parks Highway to the Palmer-Wasilla Highway. The completed road will have four lanes of traffic from the Parks until just past Bogard Road. And the new, straighter Trunk will be extended to the Palmer-Fishhook Road.

As with the section already completed, parts of the old Trunk will be used as local roads and other parts eliminated altogether. The part that follows Wasilla Creek and was partially flooded during the September 2012 flooding will be eliminated.

The Mat-Su Borough is looking at its options for what to do about access to Pioneer Peak Elementary, which currently feeds traffic onto old Trunk.

Altogether, the reconstruction of Trunk is a $21 million project paid for with federal money with its own website — trunkroad.com. The contractor for both parts, Scarsella Brothers, describes it online as, “Excavation of nearly 1.8 million cubic yards of soil, 1.2 million tons of borrow, 250 acres of clearing, over 8,000 feet of pipe, paving, signalization, lighting, seeding, landscaping, erosion control, signing and striping.”

The state, as always, urges anyone worried about road closures due to the project to visit alaskanavigator.org.

Contact Andrew Wellner at 352-2270 or andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com.